Yorkshire Water is carrying out a £112,000 scheme in Sheffield to renew 34 water pipes feeding people’s homes, as the firm aims to slash the amount of water lost through leaks.

The supply pipes that are being upgraded – found underneath gardens and driveways - have been identified as some of the leakiest in Sheffield and will be replaced by new plastic equivalents.

Work gets underway

Usually, supply pipes are the responsibility of customers to look after as they fall within property boundaries, but Yorkshire Water is carrying out the work free of charge as part of reducing its leakage rate by one million litres per day from supply pipes.

In total, over 131 water supply pipes are being renewed across Yorkshire which will save as much water as the equivalent found in half of an Olympic sized swimming pool, or 1.2 million litres per day.

Jonathan LeMoine, senior project manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “This is an important project and will ensure we can continue supply quality drinking water and minimise future disruption to customers supplies.

“We’d like to thank residents who have been affected by it and we are pleased that people can see the benefits of what we’re doing. It’s part of a wider programme of work to reduce leakage across the county by 40 per cent, which includes the hiring of around 200 new leakage inspectors to help find and fix burst pipes.”